Systems Thinking: How butterflies ruin BBQs

Did you know that a butterfly can cause a hurricane? You might have heard of this idea called the Butterfly Effect. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it can start a storm in Sydney.

But it sounds a bit hard to believe. How could the movements of a tiny creature have such a massive effect on the weather? And if it's true, should we give up hope trying to predict the weather? After all, no one likes soggy burger.

In fact, many systems in our world have this sort of "chaotic" behaviour, including weather, traffic, and the economy. It's not surprising to us that with so many moving parts, systems like this are hard to predict. But you might be surprised to learn even very simple systems exhibit chaotic behaviour.

In this talk we will study the nature of chaos by playing with very simple chaotic system: a fishing boat rocking in the ocean. What sort of waves cause the ship to capsize? We will use the scientific method to form a hypothesis, design and build a virtual experiment, and see in how the system behaves. Best of all, we will watch the results unfold in real-time using just a web browser!